Little Phatty
A synth produced by the reconstituted Moog Music; it is said to have been Bob Moog's last synth design before he passed away. Introduced in 2007, the Little Phatty serves as a sort of modern version of the Micromoog; it is a less expensive and somewhat less featured synth than the Voyager. Like most products of the latter-day Moog Music, multiple editions have been released, some of which have additional functions and some of which are cosmetic variations. The three basic editions are: Tribute (the first edition, released shortly after Bob Moog's death), Stage, and Stage II. The Little Phatty is a monophonic synth with two VCOs, one VCF, one VCA, one LFO, and two envelope generators. The LFO has four waveforms plus, on most editions of the synth sample and hold-processed noise to create random voltages. The envelope generators are full ADSR designs, unlike many Moog products; one is dedicated to the VCA and the other to the VCF. The VCF is the classic Moog transistor ladder, lowpass design. The LFO can modulate any of four destinations, and VCO 2 can also modulate its own frequency. The audio path is all analog. The synth has patch memory with 100 memory locations. The keyboard is a 37-key, C-to-C layout with conventional pitch and mod wheels, and an octave shift control. The case is designed with the control panel permanently tilted up at an angle, similar to the way that Minimoogs and Voyagers are usually operated. (Although on those synths, it is possible to lay the panel down flat. On the Little Phatty, the panel is fixed in the tilted position.) The case causes the keyboard to be tilted slightly as the synth sits on a level surface, and from the side it has a distinctive profile. The synth has also been released in a rackmount/tabletop configuration, which was sold as the Slim Phatty. This was essentially the Little Phatty's panel and circuitry with the keyboard and pitch/mod wheels omitted. Unlike the Voyager, the Little Phatty's patch editing controls are a significant departure from the classic Minimoog layout, and leans somewhat in the direction of a one-knob interface. Most of the controls are grouped into four blocks, one for the VCOs, one for the LFO, one for the VCF, and one for the envelope generators. Each block has a set of function select buttons that select a parameter to be edited, and a single rotary encoder that adjusts the selected parameter. An LED collar around the encoder indicates the approximate current value of the selected parameter. Some additional on/off parameters are controlled directly by other buttons that look like the parameter select buttons, but can light up yellow or red to indicate parameter status. A master section contains a two-line LCD alphanumeric display that shows patch names, and is used to edit a small group of system-wide parameters such as master tune and pitch wheel range. The synth is equipped with both MIDI and CV/Gate interfaces. The Stage II version added a USB interface for MIDI I/O and software updating, and a MIDI overflow capability which makes it possible to chain Little Phattys and Slim Phattys to achieve polyphonic capability. The Stage II and Slim Phatty were produced starting in 2011. Moog announced the discontinuation of the Little Phatty in 2013. The Slim Phatty was discontinued at the end of 2014. They were replaced by the Sub Phatty and Sub 37 models (both of which have since also been discontinued).. Category:Moog synths Category:Analog synths Category:Monophonic synths